When Logic Meets Local Politics
SPEAKER_00
0:00
Back in the 1900s, I was recruited as a project manager for an affordable active adult housing community in central New York. On paper, it made perfect sense. The region, Rome Utica, much like many central and western New York communities, had been hit hard. Factories had closed, jobs disappeared, communities that once felt stable were trying to figure out what came next. This wasn't theoretical, you could feel it. So when this project came forward, it checked every box. Affordable housing, community-centered, a place for people who had spent their lives working to land with dignity. It wasn't flashy, it didn't sound controversial. In fact, it was the most reasonable project that I had looked at in five years. And then I had to go in front of the city council. Now I walked into the room with this project, the numbers, the need, the impact, you know, all the logic. Except it wasn't about the logic at all. What I had never understood was that in local governments and in smaller communities, the lines between government, business, relationships are not just blurred. They're sometimes intertwined. Council members weren't just decision makers, they were neighbors, family members, connected to people in that room and in all of the spaces of that city. Some of whom, in fact, had had their own plans for that exact piece of plans. Plans that didn't include me. So suddenly what looked like a straightforward approval process became something else entirely. It was personal, it was complicated, it was political. But that wasn't the moment that it clicked for me. It was about what was being proposed, who is being impacted, who's feeling left out, and who needs to walk back and justify their vote to their constituents. Because every decision has layers, and not all of them are visible. Fast forward to today, and I'm sitting here in Jacksonville watching how decisions play out in real time. But now it's the city I'm raising my kids in, and I'm planning to retire. So I'm a lot more vested than I was as a project manager back in the 1900s. Take the stadium deal. You don't have to be a sports fan to have an opinion on that, because it's not just about football, it's about money, development, priorities. And depending on who you ask, it's either a smart investment in the future of this great city or a decision that raises a lot of questions. Who knows, maybe both. But what I know now that I didn't know walking into that room in central New York is this what looks reasonable from the outside is often layered with dynamics we can't see, all sitting just beneath the surface. So what happens when we judge decisions without understanding the dynamics behind them? When leadership is navigating complexity and the public is reacting to headlines. And what would change if we got a little more curious about what's actually happening in the room before the votes are tallied? And that's what we're going to tackle today.
Why Jacksonville Decisions Feel Personal
SPEAKER_00
2:59
Hi, I'm Suze, bringing you a dose of culture, values, and global citizenship with just enough chutzpah to tackle the topics others avoid. Today we're talking about leadership in real time, not the polished version, not the campaign version, the lived version. Today I'm sitting down with City of Jacksonville Councilmember Ron Salem, who has had a front row seat and a direct hand in many of the incredible decisions shaping Jacksonville over the past several years. Welcome, Councilman Salem.
SPEAKER_01
3:27
Thank you so much. Glad to be here.
SPEAKER_00
3:29
It's a privilege to have you. So let's start big, the stadium renovation deal. It's one of the most visible and debated decisions during your tenure. And you weren't just part of the conversation as council president at the time. You very much were in support of moving it forward. So I want to start there, but I want to preface this by letting you know I'm not a sports person. So I know that feels like a confession in Jacksonville, but I feel like it makes me the perfect person to ask this question. When you think about the stadium deal, what did you see and understand about the decision and how it would show up to our community, especially for those who don't show up on a Sunday? How does decision like this actually make sense in my world? And what does it bring to the everyday life of a Jacksonville resident, economically, culturally, or otherwise? Why was it worth the level of investment you made into it personally and the city is making into it?
Inside The Stadium Deal Timeline
SPEAKER_01
4:25
Well, Susie, I think the Jaguars are just critical to Jacksonville and our identity. And I as I look back on it, I I can still remember in the fall of 2023 when I had a phone call from Mark Lamping that says, Roger Goodell's in town and wants to meet with you. It was before a Monday night football game. I said, I'll be there. So we met and I was told he wanted to size me up because he knew it would be up to me to get this deal through the city council. And I told him, I'm supportive of a good deal. You guys need to negotiate that with the city. And if you give me 60 days, May 1st, because I leave June 30th, I will get that deal through. Well, what happened was the deal was not ready on May 1st. It was not ready on May 15th. It was not ready on May 30th. And we were into June, and I have three or four weeks left in my term. And there were 14 different components to this deal, 14 different individual contracts. So I went to them and said, why don't we do this? Let's bake it up into pieces. And let's do two or three at a time. Which really complicated because of the public hearing requirements on everything that you do. And we had to have public hearings on non-council days, and you have to have a quorum to uh to make those public hearings legal. So it was a very complicated process.
SPEAKER_00
6:00
Would it have normally been one hearing under the banner of that agreement? But because you were breaking it up, now you were adding, pardon me, more time, more attention, more research to manufacture an outcome that was favorable.
SPEAKER_01
6:16
That is correct. And I went to our council auditors who do the analysis of the deal, and I went to our Office of General Counsel, Mary Stapopoulos, our primary contact, and said, guys, I want to get this deal done on June 24th, my last council day. So we had to back up the time, and they were very supportive, very supportive of me getting this done, and outlined a calendar that we put together. We'll do these two or three deals on this day, two or three on this day. So on June 24th, my final council meeting, we had the final vote and passed it. So it was very heartwarming to me that I got that done uh while I was still president.
SPEAKER_00
6:58
What was the impetus for this being something that you wanted to have as your signature bow tie on the way out the door? What about someone like me who's not necessarily wearing teal in black, although I look amazing in teal? And I just bought two new jerseys for this upcoming season to bedazzle because I'm looking forward to enjoying this momentum that you've initiated here in the city. So it's more than just about a sports team, is the way I'm understanding it. It's something about community engagement impact. Tell me a little bit more about why someone who lives out in St. John's or in South Mandarin has an interest in what's happening in downtown Jacksonville, especially around sports.
SPEAKER_01
7:45
Well, I just think it's a rallying cry for the whole city. It gives gives us publicity, you know, three hours every Sunday, where Jacksonville is mentioned. Um especially now. Especially now. And uh when the team does well, you fill up the place, everyone talks about everybody's in you know, in teal on the Friday before the game. It just makes the whole city feel good. And I knew that if I did not get it done, uh the council was going on a break, our two-week July break, and then we get into the finance hearings on the budget. So so everyone knew that if we don't get it done now, it's gonna go into September. And if you remember, September of 2024, we started very slow. We had a bad record, and as we look back on it, it would have been much more difficult to get that deal done when you're 0-3 than in June when you're anticipating the season. So it was just a uh a mammoth effort by a lot of people to get it done and have that final vote on the 24th of June.
SPEAKER_00
8:54
Do you see the Jaguars as a potential opportunity to de-silo community, a unifying umbrella that people can join together?
SPEAKER_01
9:04
Yes, I do, because if you go to the game, you see black and white, you see rich and poor, you see young and old, everybody goes to the games. And uh it's heartwarming. It's it that you see it's it's such a rallying point for the city. And this past season is an example of that. We had such a great year, everyone was excited, uh, playoff game here. So I attended.
SPEAKER_00
9:28
In fact, a lot of people are always focusing on the economic development, and for me, that was the least important part of what this negotiation entailed. I was more concerned about what would be the benefit agreement to the community out east, which was going to impact legacy neighborhoods for generations to come. The what the what you just said, people rallying around teal was something that I was seeing intergenerationally, intercommunity, and it gave us an opportunity to discuss something that was real, positive, and we were sharing. So I think it's an opportunity for us to lean into.
SPEAKER_01
10:09
And the the CBA that you're referring to, that that final bill that we passed was a substitute that I introduced and have gotten very close to the east side community because they were very pleased with the the the uh substitute that I entered into, which adds a lot more accountability. I want to make sure 10, 20 years from now, when we look back on that CBA, that community has changed. It really you can tell the difference. And I was concerned that the original bill would not do that. So I think we've got a good bill. We're putting together the committee as we speak and voting on appointments. So hopefully that gets moving here very quickly.
Civic Pride And Community Benefits
SPEAKER_00
10:51
God willing. So now let's talk a little bit about your tenure on council. You've been on city council since 2019 and served as council president from 2023 to 2024. The first thing I want to ask you is how does one become council president? Is something you have to throw your hat in the ring? Do you just show up enough times and they go, fine, we'll give you a chance to?
SPEAKER_01
11:11
Well, it's funny. The there's uh an election every year for vice president and president. Usually the the vice president becomes president. Usually the battle, so to speak, is over the vice presidency. I was very fortunate. When I ran for vice president, I was unopposed. Oh. I I think my colleagues looked at my tenure and my experience and said it's it's Salem's turn, you know, let him take it. So I was I was very fortunate. I didn't go through a very contentious election for vice president. We're in the middle of one right now for next year. So I I can definitely see the difference.
SPEAKER_00
11:50
I will definitely say that anyone who doesn't have a contentious election is very lucky in today's climate. So that's a blessing. When you look back on your time in office so far, what are you most proud of? And what do you think people misunderstand most about what this role actually requires?
SPEAKER_01
12:06
Well, I'll tell you, one of my proudest uh moments was very early in my tenure, which was during when I was elected, the sale of JEA was in the headlines. And uh it was in November of that year where the bonus plan or PUP as it's known, performance unit plan was was made public, and it was a bad bonus plan, clearly, where the uh executives at JEA could profit considerably by that bonus plan. And uh um there was a clamor from the community, council, you gotta stop this. And Councilman Diamond and I uh were recruited to hold a hearing on the uh on the performance unit plan in mid-December of 2019. He's a lawyer, I'm not. He's experienced at doing hearings like this. I'm a pharmacist, I'm not. So I was absolutely petrified. And uh and uh frankly, it went extremely well. We exposed many parts of that plan and what happened at at some of the board meetings very clearly for the public to see. And within two or three days after that hearing, the the sale was stopped and uh Mr. Zond was terminated. So feel very good. It it's kind of ironic that what I think one of my finer moments was very early in my training year on the council. And then, of course, the stadium deal would be number two clearly as one a very significant uh accomplishment.
SPEAKER_00
13:45
And as someone who is are you native to Jacksonville?
SPEAKER_01
13:48
I am born and raised here in Murray Hill.
SPEAKER_00
13:51
Oh wow. So all of these parts are all of these matters are really personal to you. It's your sports team, it's your It's my city. It's your city.
SPEAKER_01
14:02
Yeah, I have three kids all here in town, seven grandkids all here. So I want them to have the same opportunities I've had.
SPEAKER_00
14:12
So I want to just pivot for a second. You said something really interesting. Years ago, I um interviewed former mayor John Delaney, and one of the things that impressed me most about when we talked about his tenure in office is he said to me, most of what I was working the most heavily and most dedicated to were the things that were not going to happen during my time. I was planning for my grandchildren. Right. That was the longevity, and it was there that the Better Jacksonville plan of that half a cent sales tax that was raised, and unopposed, till today, we're seeing the reflection and benefits of that plan. Tell me a little bit of how you navigate this landscape as a grandfather.
SPEAKER_01
14:57
Well, it's it's you mentioned John Delaney. We I met John Delaney in graduate school in 1979. He was in law school and I was in graduate school, and I think we think alike a to an extent, and I helped him get the better Jacksville plan passed. So um and very proud of that. Um your question again, I'm sorry, I got distracted.
SPEAKER_00
15:18
As a grandparent, right? How do you reflect on these decisions that are to me or to someone else perhaps just a headline? You're now holding this same conversation and you're looking out at the runway of 20 years, 30 years, how that decision that you're going to vote on today the responsibility is to the future.
SPEAKER_01
15:41
Well, you try to look at decisions and try to say what's best for the long term, not the short term. And sometimes you can take votes that are very easy short term and uh are are not really for the long-term good of the city. And you have to look at that. I want, as I said, I want my kids and grandkids to stay here. I don't want them to go anywhere, and you want the city to provide him the same opportunities I've had. I've had a wonderful life, um, been very successful in my career, and they're doing very well themselves. And hopefully my wife and I played a part in that.
SPEAKER_00
16:18
I'm confident that you have. One
JEA Oversight And Public Accountability
SPEAKER_00
16:21
of the areas I follow very closely and care deeply about is the intersection of mental health and homelessness. You may not know this, but back in the olden days, my first role was as a shelter director for homeless services in New York City. And so when I moved to Jacksonville, it was the first place that I noticed there was an untapped possibility for potential of addressing a need. I know that you have been a champion of the mental health offender program. I would love for you to tell me a little bit about that program. I personally had the opportunity to attend a graduation ceremony at Solzbacher, and it stayed with me. Early on in my podcast, I had the privilege to speak with Dr. Colleen Bell, who is the medical director who founded this program. And this isn't abstract, it's personal. So can you tell me about what initially drew your attention to this, what progress you've seen so far, and why this work matters so much to you that you prioritize it so heavily?
SPEAKER_01
17:26
Well, when I was in, when I was teaching full time at Ole Miss uh early in my career, I've always been interested in mental health drugs and anticonvulsant drugs, so I've always had an interest in this area. Um then President Tommy Hazuri of the council came to me, this was in my first year, and said, I want to do something in the mental health area. Here's $200,000, go go figure something out. Which was Tommy-esque if you knew Tommy Azuri.
SPEAKER_00
17:56
Okay.
SPEAKER_01
17:56
So I determined that the largest mental health provider in Duvall County is the jail, which is sad to say, but it absolutely is. And I as I got into that, I learned that we had misdemeanor people, arrested for a misdemeanor, that were spending considerable time in and out of the jail. They'd go in, they'd get out, they'd do something else, trespassing, something very minor, and get rearrested and stay in the jail. And it looked like an opportunity to try to interfere with that cycle. So we determined that uh and so I started meeting with people. I met with the chief judge, I met with the public defender, I met with the state attorney. Everybody believed that we need to break this cycle, particularly this misdemeanor arrest. So met with Solzbacher, Dr. Bell, as you've mentioned, and we put together a pilot project. And I should also mention I went to Mike Williams, who was then the sheriff, and said, Sheriff, I want to get these people out of your jail. The the correctional off, the last people they want to deal with are people that have mental health problems. Right.
SPEAKER_00
19:06
That's not something that you can rehabilitate in an organic way.
SPEAKER_01
19:10
It's difficult for them to control them, et cetera. So and how much it's costing the taxpayers. Absolutely. So the sheriff said, uh here's $400,000. I had my $200, and we started a pilot program where we were moving. If they were arrested for a misdemeanor, we would sit down with them. You have two choices. You can go into the jail or you can go into a program over here at Solzbacher and we'll rehabilitate you. And if you do well, we will keep you out of jail. The first person we took into that program was someone that had been arrested 87 times in three years. Wow. The last time they found him in a dumpster. And when questioned, he said, I'm here, so I'll be I can be left alone. So that's quite a story.
SPEAKER_00
19:59
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01
20:00
So we started that program, got several into that program. We thought we had a hit. We thought it was doing very well. We began presenting this to the state, other private funders, and we have now grown that program to the point to where Dr. Bell went up to the American Psychiatric Association and got a national award for this program. So we have now graduated somewhere in the 60 to 70 range. Um, and these are people that are now living productive lives that were cycling in and out of the jail. I don't know how you put a price on that to get someone in an assisted living or a group home that had no idea that they could have a life like that.
SPEAKER_00
20:46
Something that I think a lot of people don't necessarily recognize is that it's not as simple as just getting somebody on medication in those circumstances. Um a lot of it is building the trust.
SPEAKER_01
20:58
Absolutely. And and Dr. Bell is very good about that. It's just it's food, it's drugs, it's a place to live, it's job training, it's all those things. It's it's not inexpensive, but the most expensive place for them is in the jail.
SPEAKER_00
21:14
Right, and you're investing in their independent living skills, which then creates contributing members of society.
SPEAKER_01
21:19
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00
21:20
So we're breaking cycles and we're creating purpose-driven pilot programs that are now in what year would you say this is?
SPEAKER_01
21:27
This is year five or six. So it's done extremely well, and we're as I said, we're getting outside, and I told them this would not be a government program when I started it. This will not be the city supporting this. And they have done a gr from day one, and they have done a great job of getting other sources of funding.
SPEAKER_00
21:48
And so my question is due to the successful nature of the program, which then creates a cycle of funding to the program, which creates more success for the program, what is it that you Think this program possesses that other similar environments could benefit from? What is so special about the MHOP?
SPEAKER_01
22:10
I think it's the people that are involved in the program. They're extremely committed to it. To the point now, we are looking at taking in some felony arrests, minor felony arrests, and getting them into the program, expanding beyond misdemeanors. Um and it's just uh it's just been a wonderful thing to watch for from for me to watch all these different players um make such a difference in people's lives.
Building The Mental Health Offender Program
SPEAKER_00
22:42
So I want to talk a little bit about how your breadth of experience over the nature. You start off as a pharmacist, which is a professional in the medical space, business owner, entrepreneur. Why did you get into politics? Who wants to be unliked by half the population?
SPEAKER_01
23:01
That's a great question. Well, I've always been involved in the community. I I went through CPACs, I was president of my homeowners association, uh I was on the board of pharmacy for my profession for eight years, always been engaged, always wanted to get into elected office since I was in my 30s. Really? Yeah, always wanted to do it, but I felt uh uh uh uh I was compelled to make sure my kids were taken care of, got through college. I didn't want to uh sacrifice them to for my needs or my wants. So once they all got out, um I wanted to run for the city council. And you know, you've got terms and term limits and all that. So, and I wanted to run at large. You know, I have an at-large seat, countywide seat. So as soon as I determined where I was living and what's when this seat was going to open, I ran. I was 63 when I ran, so a little older than most, but uh um it's been the experience of a lifetime. Not that every day is great, but when you can see the difference that you make. And when we met, I was telling Nikki, my aide, the story, that you came up to me as I left this event at the women's club and said how much you admired me and how much uh we'd never met, and you were telling me what you admired that I had done. That doesn't happen very often, I can tell you. So it really made an impression upon me that you know when someone walks up to you and and tells you that, and you know you must be making a difference when strangers walk up to you and tell you that.
SPEAKER_00
24:43
I definitely have to say that of all of the spaces that I navigate in Jacksonville, the two that you show up are the two that I have an extreme fondness, the mental health and homelessness and out east. So it was just a matter of time before we bumped into each other.
SPEAKER_01
25:04
And the homeless thing, you know, I I wrote the legislation that established the path team that's out there in downtown, um, getting them off the street, getting them into programs, and that's been extremely successful as well. We have a significantly reduced homeless population now in Duval County than we had three or four years ago.
SPEAKER_00
25:24
I'll tell you a funny anecdote. I started off and I told you that I was a shelter director in New York City, and back then the Department of Homeless Services used to tell the homeless population, you should move to Florida. It's easier to be homeless in Florida. And so 11 years ago when I moved to Jacksonville, I said, I think they took them up on it because it was the first time I had gone to Heming Park. And 11 years ago, it did not look like it does today. Today I go to downtown with my daughter, and she says, it's like going to the city, and I think we all know what city she's referring to. It's not Chicago or Baltimore. But she says that when she sees the uh JSO on their horses, she says, just like Manhattan, and when she sees the museum now that has those beautiful um sculptures out front, they just did the Frank Stella sculptures out front, the growth, the progress, what you're describing in terms of the population. I also, having spent some time downtown, realize that it has transformed. And so you have committed to being part of that transformation. Let's
Homelessness Strategy And Street Outreach
SPEAKER_00
26:33
talk a little bit about leadership over time, right? It has to change over time.
SPEAKER_01
26:37
You can be a conservative and you can be a Republican and and and still be interested in issues such as that.
unknown
26:43
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01
26:44
So sometimes they think some of us don't have a heart. Um, you know, I I point to the homeless initiatives that I've worked on and the mental health program, and those are conservative principles to me, particularly mental health. They're getting them out of the most expensive place of all at the jail and making them productive citizens.
SPEAKER_00
27:05
Sure, one might argue that you're addressing Maslow's hierarchy of need, the very base of that pyramid, the one that sets us up for success or failure. So if they didn't have that in their learned experience or their background, their informed background or modeled behavior, you're giving them a second chance, or in some cases a third chance, right? But imagine you're somebody who's in their 20s and you're on your third chance, but third time's a charm. It was because of you. It was because what you invested your time, talent, and effort and energy into.
SPEAKER_01
27:34
And money.
SPEAKER_00
27:35
And money. And treasure, of course. And that's another part of Jacksonville that I want to talk a little bit about, because as a stakeholder, you put your money where your mouth is. And some people have called you and questioned you on that. And I want to know a little bit more about that. Why do you make investments on matters that people will complain about when you know they'll complain about them?
SPEAKER_01
27:59
Because it's the right thing to do.
SPEAKER_00
28:02
Your conviction leads you.
SPEAKER_01
28:04
Absolutely. I mean, you've got to have a balance. I mean, when we go through the city budget, and I'm I'm one of the more um probably conservatives on the council in some of our spending. Um, I believe we should be doing some health care spending and helping people with with medical problems, but that's really a federal problem, more so than it is a city problem. And uh I think it but but but I want to help, but there's only a certain role that the city should play, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_00
28:36
I agree. How has your perspective evolved since first taking office? And how has that shaped the way you make decisions today versus six or seven years ago?
SPEAKER_01
28:47
Oh God, that's a great question. I think uh y when you start on the council, it takes, you know, unfortunately, when we s when I started, we were in the midst of this JEA problem.
SPEAKER_00
28:58
We're still in the midst of this I said I wasn't gonna say anything, but I can't help myself.
SPEAKER_01
29:03
Well that's a it was different then because you had a bunch of first-termers that were, you know, trying to find where the bathroom was and where their office was, and here we were in the middle of this JEA sale, which is much more significant than what we're dealing with today. So, but I think as you gain experience and you learn all the players, you're able to be much more effective in getting things done. And I think it as you the more and more you do that, people come to you. You know, I I find now that uh I I I I just walked into a problem with a a parking situation for one of our major companies here locally. I don't want to mention their name, and they came to me and said, You've got to help us with this. You know, and I'm not the district councilman, I'm at large, but they'd rather come to me to get help. So it's situations like that that makes you feel good, that you must have a reputation of getting things done, or else people wouldn't come to you.
SPEAKER_00
30:02
I agree. I think that you know, establishing your trajectory early on gave you the opportunity for people to witness that you were going to consistently do what you said you would, and now here we are all these years later. As you look at Jacksonville right now, what do you see as the biggest opportunity? And where do you think the city needs the most thoughtful leadership moving forward?
SPEAKER_01
30:28
In terms of uh moving forward, um I think what we're doing downtown, I I think the the Jaguar Stadium in a couple of years when it opens up, you got the four seasons. I think we'll eventually have some type of lot J proposal coming back to the council. I'll be gone, but there'll be something there. Uh I think downtown's gonna look completely different than what it does today. Um, and I think that's exciting. Our educational system locally is pretty good, charters as well as the traditional public schools. So I I I feel Jackson, and and we're growing. Um, one of the real challenges is affordable housing.
Affordable Housing And Down Payment Help
SPEAKER_01
31:13
Uh, I feel for people that uh can't afford a home, and uh one of the things I've always said was of all the housing programs we have, let's help people with their down payment. Let's get them into a house.
SPEAKER_00
31:28
Fully agree. Fully agree.
SPEAKER_01
31:30
I can't stand it when I see people paying rent for years $1,300,000, $1,400, which would almost be a house payment, right? But they could not afford that five, ten, fifteen thousand dollars at the front end.
SPEAKER_00
31:44
So the barrier to entry is the issue that you would like to address more intentionally?
SPEAKER_01
31:50
Absolutely. I've always said of all the housing programs we have, down payment assistance is the one that I'm very supportive of. And would like to see more of that, frankly.
SPEAKER_00
32:01
Yeah, in the last few years they have made a tremendous dent in the eviction diversion program, which is also very helpful. The cost of keeping keeping people out of homelessness because once you're evicted, the possibility that you're going to be able to forget a down payment, but for some people, even that first month, last month, and a month security is impossible. So avoiding that in the first place.
SPEAKER_01
32:26
And we have funded some programs for those people that are on the verge, literally, of being thrown out of their unit and with a an assistance of a thousand dollars, fix their car. It might be they've they can't get to work and that's causing their problem. If we can fix their car, we can turn around their life.
SPEAKER_00
32:46
Are you familiar with that Alice population with the United Way? Assets limited income constrained employment.
SPEAKER_01
32:52
I had a meeting with them yesterday.
SPEAKER_00
32:53
Okay, I love Melanie Paths and James L out there, dynamic and incredible, and that's the one that I remember really experiencing. Did you ever go through their simulation?
SPEAKER_01
33:03
I have not.
SPEAKER_00
33:04
Oh, you must do this with your staff, and your whole council should do this. They do a simulation where everybody is set up into family systems, and each family gets like a an envelope with all of the things that you have, all your assets, all the cash that you have, and you have to navigate a week of living as an Alice family, an Alice household. And I remember being in the lobby of the Jesse, at some point we were evicted because we thought I was trying to pay bills and I would, you know, and I I thought I would make some money later and be able to pay the late fee and I would be able to make the rent. And it was the stress in the simulation that I was experiencing. Do you know that the most underutilized of all the resources in that simulation was the faith-based resources? A lot of faith organizations receive a lot of funding to contribute and assist, but nobody thinks to go to them.
SPEAKER_01
33:56
Interesting. Yeah. But yeah, I had Melanie Patz in my office yesterday. And we went through that program. I I I love Melanie Patz just like you do. She's very effective.
SPEAKER_00
34:06
Yes. Yes. And so I see that we're very aligned on a lot of matters. You said before that, you know, somebody wouldn't necessarily consider somebody who's Republican to be socially but I disagree. I would say that fiscally conservative and socially just.
SPEAKER_01
34:24
I'm socially aware.
SPEAKER_00
34:25
Socially aware, socially just, socially proactive. I I don't think that you have to label it into a distinct context or category per se. I think that the greater good.
SPEAKER_01
34:38
It's just on the local level, it it's it's limited.
SPEAKER_00
34:42
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01
34:43
There's only so much that you can do. We have a balanced budget every year. We don't go into debt. We have to carry significant reserves for the city budget because of potential of hurricanes. When you have to front all that money, city money, to recover from that situation before you get any federal help. We've been very fortunate in Jacksonville, particularly this year. No hurricanes. That's great. That's great.
SPEAKER_00
35:10
It really was a very easy year for a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01
35:13
And and and I've been on the council where we had three hurricanes.
SPEAKER_00
35:16
Yep.
SPEAKER_01
35:17
So, which really stresses our budget.
SPEAKER_00
35:19
Yeah. So holding both truths at once, wanting to serve the natural good, and also understanding that you can't boil an ocean. If I try to tackle too much of too much, then we're likely not going to tackle or solve anything.
SPEAKER_01
35:36
I I couldn't agree with that last statement more.
SPEAKER_00
35:38
So
Lightning Round On Power And Pressure
SPEAKER_00
35:39
all right, we're going to shift gears now with a lightning round. Okay. Quick answers, don't overthink it. This is the Jacksonville edition. You ready?
SPEAKER_02
35:46
Okay.
SPEAKER_00
35:46
A decision you made on council that kept you up at night.
SPEAKER_01
35:51
Oh. Uh uh vote on a resolution uh uh in uh in 2023.
SPEAKER_00
36:01
A moment in your time.
SPEAKER_01
36:02
I won't say anything else.
SPEAKER_00
36:03
That's okay. You can go into detail if you want to. A moment in your time on council that reminded you this is exactly why I said yes to this role.
SPEAKER_01
36:12
Um probably the stadium deal.
SPEAKER_00
36:17
What's harder, campaigning or governing? Governing. A local issue people should be paying more attention to but aren't.
SPEAKER_01
36:28
The improvement in our homeless situation.
SPEAKER_00
36:31
If you could pass one policy tomorrow with zero red tape, what would it be?
SPEAKER_01
36:38
God.
SPEAKER_00
36:44
All right, I'll come back to you. When your time in public service is done, what do you hope people say about the way you showed up?
SPEAKER_01
36:53
He was always there and he worked hard to pass significant legislation for the betterment of the city.
SPEAKER_00
37:03
Well, I appreciate your candor and authenticity. I also appreciate your commitment to your constituents. So thank you again for being here. There's a moment in almost every conversation like this where things shift, where it stops being about policy and starts being about people. And it sounds to me like you lead from a position of peoplehood. Behind every vote, every initiative, every headline, there are human beings, and you seem to be doing your best to navigate complicated situations. I want to ask one final question. Because we're so close to Disney, I often think that people have the potential to become the villain in someone else's narrative. And I've also learned that a lot of villains have an origin story. And so was there ever a time or a decision that you made where you were the villain in somebody else's story, but wanted and hoped that they had asked more questions or given you the benefit of the doubt?
SPEAKER_01
38:00
I think the issue we're facing right now with JEA is one where I'm trying to get to the truth, and there's a lot of pressures that we that the council should not be involved in this. Uh analysis of what's going on at JEA. We own JEA. The citizens do. The City Council is the representative of the people, and I think that uh we need to understand all that's going on over there, and even if it does make certain people uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00
38:34
It's not an easy role to take. Well, I want to thank you again for your time, talent, tenure, and treasure in contribution to the city of Jacksonville. Um, is there anything else that you want to share as we wrap up this episode?
SPEAKER_01
38:50
No, it's I've enjoyed this, Susie. I enjoy talking about government. I love government and love influencing it. As I, you know, these uh seven years, one more year left on the council have been the joy of my life.
SPEAKER_00
39:04
May you go from triumph to triumph and strength to strength.
SPEAKER_01
39:07
Well, I appreciate that. I'd like to continue in some form at the end of my tenure. Uh I think I have a lot more to give to the city.
SPEAKER_00
39:15
I look forward to watching what you have to offer.
SPEAKER_01
39:18
Thank you so much. Enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_00
39:20
And thank you for
Honorable Mention And Closing Thoughts
SPEAKER_00
39:21
being here. Now it's time for our honorable mention. Mensch is someone who shows up with integrity, responsibility, and heart. This week's honorable mensch is Dr. Colleen Bell, someone whose work continues to expand both access and impact in the mental health space. In addition to her leadership as president of the health division at Salzbacher, she now serves as president of Duval Family Health Center and will be stepping into a powerful new role in partnership with Mayo Clinic as an adjunct professor of psychiatry. Through this work, she is helping shape the next generation of physicians and healthcare leaders, ensuring they are trained not just in theory, but in the real-world impact of federally qualified healthcare settings. She is currently teaching psychiatry and addiction medicine to Mayo internal medicine residents, which means her influence isn't just in the care she provides, it's in the care that will be provided for years to come. That will do it for us today. Thank you for joining me for another episode of Schmoors with Suze. If this conversation made you think, feel, or see something a little differently, share it. Because these conversations matter. Follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for your daily dose of chutzbah. I'm Suze, your well informed smart ass reminding you what's an envelope if not for pushing. Stay inspired and inspiring.
